


We Follow Darkness Like a Dream

by orphan_account



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan, Were the World Mine (2008)
Genre: Fluff, Happy Ending, Homophobia, M/M, Midsummer Night's Dream, Nico is a Dork, No Proofreading We Die Like Men, also this is kind of based on shakespeare?, but it's really not, i cannot do angst at all so I promise you this is an angst free zone, if im not horrible at writing that is, no one has seen that movie but you really should I love it, slight non-con, were the world mine au, which may be the case honestly the jury's out on that one, you don't have to have seen it to read this and know what's going on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-08 19:24:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10394355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Were the World Mine AU. You don't have to have seen the movie to read this. Although you really should see it.Nico is a gay highschooler in an all-boy's school with a massive crush on the star rugby player, Will Solace. While rehearsing his lines for the school play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, he comes across the recipe for a love potion. He uses this new power to make Will fall in love with him, and turn his small, homophobic town gay.(I'm gonna be real with you guys I really don't think I'm going to finish this sorry. Depression is kickin my ass over here)





	1. Fragile Masculinity and You

**Author's Note:**

> I am doing this out of boredom. I think. Why am I doing this again?  
> Adjust your expectations accordingly.

Dodgeball was by far Nico’s best subject.  
That was sarcasm.  
He’s awful.

“Hey! Nico still needs a ball,” one of his classmates yelled out.

“What he needs is my balls,” yelled Connor as he threw one at Nico. Cool. Awesome. Another gay joke. Not even a good one. He mentally gave it a 4/10. A couple of Connor’s rugby cohorts laughed. He could vaguely make out Will Solace among them, rolling his eyes. At least someone who played rugby knew at least what _isn’t_ a joke. Nico was beginning to think the first rule to playing rugby was ‘do not tell any good jokes or be funny at all generally’.

“You wish” Nico said, taking the rubber ball and preparing for all hell to break lose. He heard a couple of semi-suppressed chuckles echoing around the gym.  
Coach Hedge blew the whistle, and Nico did what one does when playing dodge-ball: he dodged balls. Sure, maybe that involved him getting the hell away from the middle of the gym, which looked more like a war-zone to Nico.

The rugby team was currently trying to… assert their dominance?... make up for what they lack in other areas?... He wasn’t sure. It’s not like there’s a book for understanding straight guys. If there was an “Fragile Masculinity and You: Understanding Straight Men.” he’d love to read it.

  
Then he locked eyes with Connor, and Nico’s fight or flight instincts kicked in. That is to say, his brain understood that he should either jump out of the way or catch it, however, outsourcing those tasks to his body was a different matter.

  
It felt like time slowed down as the ball Connor threw hit him right in the eye.

  
By the time he looked up with his one non-damaged eye, everyone was walking (er, more like tackling/punching/shoving) each other out of the gym. Nico will never understand straight guys.


	2. Awaken and Empower What's Within

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you were wondering I still have no idea what I'm doing

Nico trudged back to the locker room. The good thing about being the one openly gay kid in his high school is that everyone pissed off when he went into the locker room. Was it homophobic? Yeah. But as Nico saw it, the trash was just taking itself out. As he sat down, he heard a voice from behind him.

“Need some ice?” he turned around. It was Will Solace. He immediately turned back around to stare at his shoes.

“No. I can handle it,” he replied. Why was Will Solace, star of the rugby team, posterboy for being hot and also incredibly straight, being nice to him? That doesn't happen-- not to Nico. Must be a set up.

❈

“Nice eyeshadow,” some kid commented on the incredible shiner he got the period before, courtesy of Connor. He didn't know who said it. He didn't care.

“You will not disrespect a soul in this class,” came the reprimand from the teacher. She was new this year, Nico remembered. Ms. Venus, was it? How she ended up teaching at an all boys school, he had no idea.

“Repeat after me,” she said, “love looks not from the eyes, but with the mind,“.

“Love looks not from the eyes, but with the mind, ” came the unenthusiastic echo.

“And therefore is winged cupid painted blind,”

“And therefore is winged cupid painted blind,” they mumbled back.

Nico decided that if he had to lose his sight from the friend of the guy he has a crush on, today was the day to do it.

Ms. V went on about Shakespeare or something, Nico had no idea. He was day-dreaming about Will Solace. Will Solace shirtless, to be exact. What? Can you blame him?

A voice pulled him out of his dream.

“Nico. Nico!”. Everyone else had left but him and Ms V. She was trying to hand him a paper.

“A Midsummer Night's Dream,” she said excitedly, “Auditions are Friday,“.

Nico read over the handout briefly. “I’m not an actor” he replied, hoping she understood the unsaid ‘please don't force me to do this in front of those rugby dick bags I'm already gay let's not make this worse’ that he was trying to convey with his eyes.

“Well that's fine, you don't have to be, ” she smiled sweetly. Nico was angry she was being so nice about this. He started to get up and leave.  
“Awaken and empower what's within! “ she was way to giddy about this.

“I'd really rather not,” he said, half-apologetically. He walked out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While writing this I basically have all of the dialogue from this movie memorized word for word... so, um, whoops


	3. What Fools These Mortals Be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> song lyrics are in italics. I wrote half of this at 2 in the morning and the other half on a long car ride where I kept dozing off. That's how you know it's going to be some really high quality shit.
> 
> the song Nico sings is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd3ubrg2G80  
> I'm going to try to include the links to the songs from the movie (partly because it's amazing and I'm going to shove this film down your throat, partly because my storytelling skills are questionable)

Friday came faster than expected.

Nico walked into the gym after school, totally not looking forward to the next couple of minutes. Unfortunately, since it was the senior play, everyone had to audition. That included Nico. 

Ms V stopped to talk to the coach, mainly to tell him that no, she still has time left in the gym, and no the play won't make his “warriors” gay.

“Nico! You’re here! Splendid. Let’s get started”. Nico did not think it was splendid.

She handed him her copy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and turned to the third act. She made a face like “go on, I’m waiting”.

Nico cleared his throat and began reading. “And the youth mistook by me, pleading for a lover’s fee;” He laughed. “I don’t even know what I’m saying.”

“That will come.” Nico was surprised at how reassuring Ms. V was. Also how oddly proud she was of him, almost like she already knew his destiny and he was just fulfilling it.

He continued reading. “Shall we their fond pageant see, what fools these mortals be.” That part he understood.

“Agreed, indeed,” she carefully took the book from his hand and replaced it with sheet music. “Let’s sing.”

Uh oh. “S-sing?” She must have read “101 Things to Make Fun of Gay Kids For Doing” and picked the first one off the list.

Either she didn’t pick up on his hesitation or she didn’t care, because she sat down at the piano and began to play what Nico guessed was a warm-up.

Once they had practiced the melody, Nico following along surprisingly well, she told him to next sing the lyrics. 

> _We fairies_
> 
> _That do run,_
> 
> _From the presence_
> 
> _Of the sun_
> 
> _We Follow_
> 
> _Darkness_
> 
> _Like a dream_

Nico grew more and more confident as the song continued. He had always liked singing, but he never thought he was particularly good at it. Besides, he was being picked on for being queer before he even knew what that was, if he was also in the drama club he might as well just wear the gay pride flag as a cape. But since the entire senior class had to perform in the play, no one could blame him for trying, right? Besides, everyone already knew he was gay, it would weird them out if he wasn't a good performer. 

❈

Outside the doors of the gym, the rugby team lay on the steps twiddling their thumbs and waiting for auditions to be over. Will leaned his head against the crack of the door, listening to the beautiful singing coming from inside. Sitting next to him, Cecil removed one earbud and nudged Will. 

“Hey, who’s in there?” he asked.

Will shrugged. He shifted so he could peer through the crack in the door. He wasn’t surprised to see Nico di Angelo standing in the middle of the stage, but nevertheless he was still impressed. Nico was an incredible singer. Will decided to enjoy it and leaned his head back against the crack of the door and day-dreamed.

He dreamt, primarily, of Nico. Nico taking his hand and leading him through a forest strewn with fairy lights.

> _We fairies_
> 
> _That do run_
> 
> _From the presence_
> 
> _Of the Sun,_
> 
> _We follow_
> 
> _Darkness_
> 
> _Like a dream_

Will felt the chorus thumping steadily in his chest like a heartbeat.

> _Be as thou wast wont to be_
> 
> _See as thou wast wont to see_
> 
> _Be as thou wast wont to be_
> 
> _See as thou wast wont to see_

❈

“It looks like I’m one of the lovers” Will gave a kind of half-frown and turned to face Nico, not taking his arm off the other boy’s shoulder. Nico shrugged him off as the other boys ran up to the bulletin board to see what part they were assigned. The casting had been announced, and unsurprisingly, Nico was given the role of Puck. Some of the other boys complained amongst themselves that they had been given girl roles. Nico assumed they still didn’t catch on to the fact that this is an all-boys school. Although, to be fair, those guys would bitch about anything given a window of opportunity.

As he was leaving for the day, Will caught his attention, calling out “Hey di Angelo!”

Nico raised an eyebrow questioningly in Will’s direction.

“Nice pipes,” he said, “I heard your audition. You’re really good.”

Nico was officially out of his comfort zone. Insults he could deal with, that was normal. But someone purposefully catching his attention just to be nice to him? Uncharted territory.

He made some noises that he’s pretty sure sounded like a thank you (of some kind) and nodded his head. Will flashed him a smile before he left, and Nico’s heart fluttered. 

He grinned all the way back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the margins of the paper I wrote this on (yes I still use paper, I was in the car) I wrote: "Can you sit down? Can you sit down? Can you sit down every hour for meeee?"  
> I thought I'd share.  
> Don't ask me what it means because I have no idea


	4. Cupid's Love Juice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> get ready for a whole chapter of me fumbling around like a fish on land trying to describe a musical number with words. Thinking things through is not what I’m known for.
> 
> also this is long and shit but I have a 10 paged term paper I need to write by tomorrow so I really need to just post this and move on

Nico had a weird week. Actually, ‘weird’ might be an understatement.

First, he had not sucked in basketball. That was pure luck, but then Will had slapped him on the ass and said “good form”. Nico was really, really, fucking confused. He wasn’t sure whether this guy wanted to kick his ass or do something else with his ass. He was decidedly not going to think about that too much.

Then, some High IQ Society members had scrawled ‘faggot’ on his locker. Nico was not one to pick fights, but he wasn’t helpless. He could take a lot of bullshit from these people, but this had gone too far. The rugby team was having practice when he stormed the field. He dropped his bag on the ground and rolled up his sleeves.

“Alright. Who did it” Nico crosses his arms and squinted at the bright sunlight. The wind tossed his black hair in his eyes. He wasn’t sure if that made him look intimidating or just stupid.“Did what?” Will jogged over to him. Unfortunately he was not the only one that jogged over.

Nico saw the smug grin smeared on Connor’s face. What an asshole. “Did you do it?”

He decided to play stupid. Nico decided to smack the stupid look off his face. Will tried to get him to calm down; it didn’t work.

In the end he ended up walking away with a grass-stained t-shirt and a bruise on his cheek as Will held Connor back.

It wasn’t Nico’s proudest moment. But he did get a good couple of hits in, so at least he had that.

❈

“With the soul of love I ask of you the memorization of act 3 for tonight” Ms V called out as everyone was wrapping up.

Nico seriously did not have time for this. How the hell was he supposed to memorize a whole act of this stupid play in a night? He remembered back to Ms. V lecturing about… oh what was that meter thing Shakespeare used to get his actors to memorize the lines? Oh! Iambic pentameter.  

Nico hated the idea of using anything that he learned in school to help him in any way, but fuck it. He’ll try anything once.

He flipped to the page they had been practicing that day and read.

I put a girdle round about the earth

He started tapping out a rhythm. 1 short, 1 long. It sounded something close to: i PUT a GIR-dle ROUND a-BOUT the EARTH.

Well shit. It definitely helped. He applied the rhythm to the rest of the lines on the page. As Nico practiced his lines under his breath, he began to see certain words move on the page.

He must be really, really tired. Nico made a mental note to go to bed and rubbed his eyes, hoping that would help.

It didn’t, so he turned the page.

“What the fuck” Nico whispered to himself. That page had definitely not been there earlier. It was titled Cupid’s Love Juice #3. Now he was curious.

> Secure upon-sat stones of promontory,
> 
> Spark’d essence of madly shooting stars,
> 
> One drop or two of anything wat’ry 
> 
> Some semblance of a milk-white western flower.
> 
> Fulfill a pot purely mineral with
> 
> Ingredients which you’ve gathered carefully
> 
> Upon said bowl, bestow a harmonious breath 
> 
> Til thou remember’st pure whose love you seek 
> 
> Allow this precious time to meditate;
> 
> Their quenched thirst your just deserved prize!
> 
> United they conspire to charm your mate
> 
> With purple liquor destined for love’s eyes. 
> 
> Now with a deft and musical note, rejoice.
> 
> To give your deepest love-desire strong voice. 

Nico went to his kitchen and got a bowl. Why the fuck not? He was bored. The worst that could happen was he’d have a now damp fake flower and a couple of rocks in a bowl.

He got all his shit in a bowl and blew on it. The petals moved a little bit.

Other than that, no love potion. Nico was not going to try very hard to do this, so unless it’s easy it’s not happening. He turned the page. The only word on the page was “Sing”. Nico felt like the book was mocking him, like “look you dumb shit is this simple enough for you?”. It’s a low moment when a book starts to be condescending you.

But the next part he recognized, that was a song he had to sing for the play. So he sang it to his mixing bowl of water, rocks, and a fake flower.

> I see their knavery
> 
> This is to make an ass of me
> 
> To fright me, if they could
> 
> But I will not stir from this place
> 
> Do what they can
> 
> I will work
> 
> Up and down here
> 
> And I will sing that they shall hear
> 
> That I am not
> 
> I am not afraid
> 
> I am not afraid

He felt a weird tingling sensation in his hand. Nico guessed it was as good as ever to “remember’st whose love you seek’. Daydreaming was a specialty of his. That’s one thing he learned in school, how to easily zone out.

Shutting his eyes, he dreamed of pansies… and Will… and a lot of glitter and fairy wings. Christ, even his daydreams were gay.

> My ear should catch your voice
> 
> My eye should catch your eye
> 
> My tongue your tongue
> 
> Were the world mine

❈

He opened his eyes, and in his hand, where the spoon had been, was a purple flower. Maybe it was a pansy? It looked like a pansy. Nico decided not to examine these circumstances too much. He was pretty sure that if he thought about all that any deeper than face value his head might explode.

But now he has a weird love potion pansy. This could be fun.

He had a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you accidentally learn anything about Shakespeare I'm really sorry
> 
> also school has started back up so I am retreating into my cave until about mid-june.


End file.
